Video Game Reviews

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Arriving late to the party is my review of Halo Reach. The last title in the Halo franchise to be developed by Bungie, is Reach the penultimate Halo experience, or does it fail miserably?

Truthfully, a little of both. As a person who LOVED the original Halo, I bought the trilogy of paperback novels that were available. The Fall of Reach novel created an excellent narrative of what exactly the humans were up against, and there were quite a few epic space battles fought in the distant systems that the game never touched on. Basically, the humans are f***ed when fighting the covenant in space. The covenant's technology is far superior to the humans, and the only thing that seems to work is that the humans have to sacrifice entire ships as shields to block plasma volleys. Yet they never touch on that in the game. It would have done a tremendous job of conveying the feeling that Reach is royally screwed. Not to mention that the only hint of a space battle in the game is remarkably less than epic. According to the book, The UNSC had something like 100 ships in and around the planet, along with 20 orbital super MAC guns. They were invaded by hundreds more covenant ships as well. Yet, we only see one installation in the space battle section, and very few ships from either side. Then there's the whole business about the Pillar of Autumn never landing on Reach in the first place.

The Pillar of Autumn, along with the Master Chief, Keyes, and Cortana showed up late to Reach, as they were out of the system at the time the invasion began. Not only that, but it was literally about a half hour from the start of the Invasion until the covenant began glassing the planet. I guess that might not have been good time frame to base a game off though. In short, they never had time to land on the planet, and Cortana was already on board, so basically, they raped the story. Along with that, the voice acting is competent, but is just so dull, you never quite get the feeling of desperation and hopelessness they seem to want you to feel. Not to mention I felt absolutely no compassion for Noble team.. They're just bland across the board. But anyway, how about that gameplay?

The gameplay itself is very similar to other Halo titles. Move along the path shooting everything in the face until you're told where to go next. This time, however, they added a blossoming reticle to the mix. Whenever you fire a weapon, the reticle expands, increasing the chance of your weapon being off-target. Basically, it makes them less accurate if you fire them quickly. It's not innovative by any means, but it is a nice change of pace for a Halo title.

Also new to the franchise (and I say "to the franchise" because Red Faction Guerrilla used this system first) are armor (backpack) abilities. Ranging from sprinting to temporary invulnerability at the cost of mobility, armor abilities are basically Reach's equivalent of equipment from Halo 3. I feel the need to bring this up. Spartans are not your typical humans. They are augmented so that their bones are practically indestructable, they see better, run faster, jumper higher, and all that good stuff. WHY IN THE HELL CAN'T THEY SPRINT WITHOUT THE ARMOR ABILITY? Some argue the armor weighs a lot. Let me refer to the books again. Their armor is practically weightless. I mean, it does weigh a lot, but not to them. The armor exaggerates their movements, so they are able to move much faster and react quicker, and with less effort. So yeah, there's no reason you should need the armor ability to sprint, and I would assume a super soldier should be capable of sprinting longer than 5 seconds before becoming winded.

The multiplayer is probably what everyone bought this game for though, and luckily, it is probably the best multiplayer since Halo 2. First of all, grenades actually do damage again, so I liked that right from the start. The bevy of different playlists and modes ensures that you'll like [i/something[/i] they have on offer as well. Once you select a playlist, you'll be given three random options on what map and game-type to play. This works well enough. My only problem with it is the Rumble Pit playlist is boring. People will rarely pick oddball or headhunter, so it's pretty much always straight-up slayer. More variety would be nice. Some gametypes give you loadouts to select which is pretty much an armor ability with weapons suited for it. For example, the recon loadout is the sprint ability paired with a DMR and (I think) a pistol.

There are a couple new gametypes added to the mix as well. The aforementioned Headhunter is a fun spin on slayer. Whenever you kill an enemy, a skull will pop out. You need to collect these skulls and return them to capture points to earn points. Unfortunately, you'll probably never get to play it unless you can convince people in the team objective lobby to pick it. It rarely shows up in rumble pit, or big team battle, and when it does, it's almost never voted on. Stockpile has you collecting neutral flags that spawn at semi-random places on the map that you must return to your base. Invasion is a completely new gametype that pits elites vs. spartans. The spartans have to defend points, while the elites attempt to take them over. It's set in 3 phases with changes occurring to loadouts in each phase. Invasion is set on the larger maps in the game, Hemorrhage, and Boneyard, so be prepared to spend most of your game just getting across the map.

Firefight also makes its return, and this time, it has matchmaking. This is where I spend the majority of my matches, but it's getting old. The matches are always 5 waves on heroic difficulty, and always with the same two skulls on. ALWAYS. I hear they're changing this up a bit with a new update, but really, this could have had more going for it when the game was released. Even simply being able to select your difficulty would have been good.

Borrowing from the success of the Call of Duty series, there's now a credits system. Everything you do in the campaign, multiplayer, and single player rewards you with credits. You get a few credits for each kill, with an opportunity to earn more credits by completing daily and weekly challenges, as well as earning commendations for things like headshots, kills with heavy weapons, and so on. Everything that can be purchased with credits is purely cosmetic though. It would have been nice to be able to buy something that actually does something in the game, such as cheats to use in campaign, things to use in forge, or whatever. It feels tacked on, and does nothing to enrich the multiplayer experience.

Forge is also back, and they give you a great big open canvas to work with. I've made a couple maps with it, and the tool is pretty easy to work with, as long as you're willing to improvise. There's a limit as to how many of a certain type of part you can use, as well as how much you can build overall, so don't expect to make a gigantic building encompassing the whole area. Still, it's more than enough to get the job done. If you're building a massive map though, be prepared to use things other than actual walkways as walkways.

Overall, this is the Halo title to own for the 360. Everything I've mentioned is heavily customizable, and its multiplayer is the best of this generation of Halo titles. The campaign may not be the best, but it's still an enjoyable (albeit short) experience. I'll admit this review is somewhat convoluted and not streamlined, but I just decided to write this after coming home from working all day. So there.

A game with such a history, a fantasy RPG where you save the kingdom from the evil power (Sound familiar?) Anyways, this game takes place following the story of Fable 2, of which I personally did not enjoy. At first I was reluctant to play this game at all, let alone purchase it. A friend of mine had his copy, and I was playing that. I say was, simply because I am done.

A huge game with SO MANY SIDE-QUESTS (OMG) where practically every single villager has a quest for you (or 3). The main story line, playing right through can be tackled in about 9 hours, kind of short for an RPG, but acceptable. Exploring Albion is a lot of fun, both before and after the main adventure comes to a finish. Once done, I found myself drawn back to complete side quests I'd left unattended and to see if I could find all of the many hidden goodies scattered around the world. This is particularly enjoyable if you've played past Fable games -- Albion has changed quite a bit in your absence -- or if you've got some friends around to play with online. The co-op mode in Fable III is greatly improved. The screens are no longer tethered and you don't have to take up the generic role of henchman, which makes the whole experience feel worthwhile as opposed to the chore that it was in Fable II.

The biggest thing that stands out to me about this game is the near lack of menus. You actually walk around as your character in the pause menu, and you inventory is in various rooms at your "home base". The simulated world you play in is so flexible that it allows for a huge variety of things to do. Building a family, committing murder, taking up odd-jobs, playing merchant, or simply customizing the look of your character are all included as side distractions, and the world of Albion will react to your actions. Buying up houses and playing slum-lord to rake in cash is always fun. At the same time, since so little of the game is pre-scripted, things do go awry. Bugs pop up with frustrating regularity. Dialogue overlaps itself quite often. Wacky things happen that clearly shouldn't.

The good news is that I found Fable III to be a lot of fun, which is ultimately the most important thing you could ask of a game. It does have it's problems -- a few technical bugs occasionally rear their ugly faces and the broken design stunts at some of the more emotional moments -- but all told it’s a great game that is well worth your time.

This is a massive game, and yet it remains accessible to gamers of all skill levels. That in itself is a pretty special achievement. Tack on a solid combat system, an immerse world, and decisions with real consequences, and you’ve got a game that just about anybody can enjoy. Now whether it's worth you money or not, that's your call. During my time borrowing this game, I played about 80 some percent of the side-missions and beaten the main story twice. I still have not bought it, and do not intend to - yet I still give this game a solid 9 of 10.

So Call of Duty Black Ops has been out for a couple weeks now so I though I would give a review of the multiplayer aspects of this game. I'm currently a 2nd prestige level 12 if you were wondering.

The GoodWeapon Balance- The guns in Black Ops are very balanced. Of course you have a couple dud guns and a couple great guns, but overall it is very balanced. The only problem I have with the weapon balance is the sub machine gun hip fire is a little to... laser-beamish, if I may say, but it isn't that big of deal.

Killstreaks- I love how the killstreaks do not build on each other in Black Ops. It is nice knowing that a bad player cant camp his way to a five killstreak,which even the worst of players can do, and get a chopper gunner. Now instead of that tactic, you actually have to get the kills from your gun which makes for the game being much less frustrating with all of the air support. Unfortunately the care package is back, but that isn't a huge and plus a lot of people don't run it.

Perks- I really like the perks in Black Ops. I think it is really good that Stopping Power and Juggernaut have been removed from the game. The rest of the perks are very balanced, however it seems like you seem Ghost, Sleight of Hand the most with the green perk changing a bit. The pro perks are very very hard to get without actually trying to get them, which can get a little frustrating but oh well.

Customization- There is a lot to customize in Black Ops. There are a large amount things to make you unique in Black Ops. You blue perk determines what your character looks like. You can then add face paint which I personally love doing, Lightweight and Banshee I believe is my favorite looking combo so far. Then there is your player card. You can change the background and also customize an emblem. As it does get very annoying seen male and female body parts as peoples emblems, but if you can get by that there are some super cool and super creative emblems out there.

Statistic Tracking- There are some many stats being tracked in Black Ops it is amazing. I love being able to see my rank in each gametype, and not just overall. Another really cool thing is how there is actually a win streak counter now so you always know what you are on, and your overall best win streak can be found in a different location. It tracks everything from guns, killstreaks, and medals you earn in a game. I've never been so interested in the stats of a game before, who ever thought of all of this at Treyarch, he needs to get a raise.

Treyarch- Treyarch is great about their community support for their games. The game is only two weeks in so obviously it can't be flawless yet, but at least Treyarch is working to make it better and they are listening to us unlike Infinity Ward. Plus they are so active in the community and really care about us and giving us a good game to play. Let's just look at a quick example, the care package glitch. In Modern Warfare 2 the care package glitch took about a month or two to get fixed, the one in Black Ops, and I know a lot of you are saying there wasn't a care package glitch in Black Ops, but there was but Treyarch patched it so fast, roughly a day or two, that we never even knew about it. This is just one example of why Treyarch is the better Call of Duty studio in my opinion.

The BadNuketown- Enough said

RC-XD- This is not a huge issue, I would like to point that out, but I see it to be a problem that I have died from this killstreak more than any in Black Ops. It should be a 5 killstreak and then it would be perfectly fine. A 3 killstreak, and 2 with Hardline, is just to easy for a free kill in my opinion.

Knife Lunge- The knife is a little to good in Black Ops. It seems like the lunge is massive and that knifing is almost better then shooting at very close quarters situations. I even heard they changed their button layout back to Default from Tactical because the knife was better then drop shotting. Now, I do keep in mind that this could be part of lag and that it just looks like a huge lunge, but I think it is pretty universal that the knife lunge is big. I wish they would go back to the Call of Duty 4 style of knifing where it was just a slash and not a lunge. I heard they patched this already, but playing today I could not see it. I do think this is one think though that they are working on and probably will be fixed before long. Another problem with the knife lunge is panic knifing. If you don't know what that is, it is when you see someone, get scared, and just end up hitting the knife button on your right analog. If they switched the Tactical and Default button layouts around so that the B button was knife I think that would be awesome.

Hit Detection/Lag- I put these together because it is hard to tell which is the overall problem. The hit detection in Black Ops is very hit and miss, no pun intended. Some games you will be perfectly fine, and some games you will unload on a guy, and he will simply turn around and kill you. This is usually more of a session by session problem then a game by game problem. You will usually have a few good hours, followed by a few bad hours. Of course there are your exceptions where you may have bad detection during a good streak, and good during a bad, but that is expecting. This problem of course could be due to lag. I have watched plenty of kill cams where I know I shot the guy and he wont die and he kills me. On my screen I unloaded on him, but when I watch the kill cam, I didn't even shot. This is just something you are going to run into with online games, especially ones that use player hosts and don't have dedicated servers. I really wish the game had dedicated servers, but it never will, not on console at least, I think the PC crowd already has dedicated servers. Overall this can become a big issue when someone won't die when you shot them, but what can you do about it, it has always been a part of online gaming.

Normal Call of Duty BS- Whenever you pick up a Call of Duty game, you go into knowing that there will be some shenanigans taking place while you play. Boosters are back, but you can now report them and they are much less common since you can't use Tactical Insertion in Free-for-All anymore. Of course there will still be your camping, your bad teammates that would rather sit on the wrong side of the map going 2-30 while you try to grab an objective, and your other random stuff that comes with Call of Duty. This is not a game mechanic problem in anyway, however wouldn't it be cool if you could report a guy for camping? This is just how Call of Duty works, it comes with the fun of it.

Overall I give this game an 8/10 so far. The hit detection and lag is to big of a problem for me to give it a higher rating, but if I figure it out or if it gets fixed I can see this game easily rising up with that rating. I don't want you to think I'm saying this is a bad game at all, because it is not. I really do enjoy this game, it, along with every other Call of Duty made, just gets a little frustrating sometimes. I hoped you guys liked this and I will be doing another one once I am 5th prestige if I continue to prestige, or after another 2 days of in game time. If anyone wants to play just add me or invite me if your already on my list. GT: lilbiz73

Sunday, October 10, 2010

I'm going to try something different and hit you all at once like a shotgun with the details of Halo Reach. No opinions, just facts. A very quick review since my regular ones take to long to flesh out.

Love it or hate it, Halo Reach is the final (?) entry into the Halo series after Bungie has broken free from Microsoft's grasp (owever 343 industries were created to possibly continue the series). If the series were to go into a hiatus right now, it would be good for it. It has gotten quite stale, especially in Reach with only the jetpacksm, armor abilities, space flight, etc. shaking things up a bit. Yet, it has the same familiarity that fans of the series, or anyone who has ever even played a Halo game, will be used to.

Gone is the blandness of Master Chief who is replaced with 5 characters with differing personalities and yourself, whose face is never seen. Your mission is to fend off the covenant attacks on the home of the UNSC, Reach.

Fortunately, the campaign never feels like it's just "tacked on" and is as pulse-pounding, frustrating, rewarding and unique as the other Halo titles.

The multi-player features the classic modes everyone has played before. (2v2, Big Team, Snipers, Swat, Etc.). Added to the multi-player is the new Firefight, which is similar to Gears of War 2's Horde Mode: you face increasingly difficult waves of enemies with teammates with either a set number of lives or infinite.

Spartan customization is back but with a small array of options at the beginning, it'll take some time to buy everything and future DLC can improve. These custommizations are only cosmmetic and don't play into the overall game; armmor upgrades don't provide any more protection or ammo capacities.

The graphics are improved from Halo 3 and ODST but only a slight bit. You'll still feel like you're in the land of ODST from traveling through a city that resembles New Mombasa in architecture and Halo 1 from the canyon you travel through. Regardless these areas feature details that you may often find yourself stopping to take a look at.

The sound is something to really be impressed by, the music features another great score by Marty O'Donnell. Subtle at times of inactionbut ramps up with the heat of battle. The voiceacting is superb but the lines of dialogue might wear a bit thin if you die and have to restart from a checkpoint. The explosions, gunshots, enemies yelling, teammates talking through the radios, and everything else is clear. The closer you get to your teammates, the rdio chatter turns into normal speaking. The space-flying action is quiet, the vacuum of space hiding the music but disrupted by the sounds of explosions around you.

Halo Reach is a great "last hurrah!" from Bungie and a good place to start for those who have hated the franchise due to its popularity. If you want to hold out and say you'll never buy it, at least rent it. More than likely your mind will be changed. Come for the capaign, stay for the multiplayer.

Friday, October 1, 2010

Starport: GE is a Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game for the PC developed by PlayTechTonics. You take on the role as a Space Ship Captain sailing the stars for fame and riches. Released in the early 2000’s, Aaron Hunter (Toonces) has used his small team to accomplish a lot for the ‘little man’.

Once gameside, you can trade, fight, establish a colony, establish a corporation, and gain experience.

There is an Item Mall of witch costs real life money, $1 gets 1,000 Admiral Tokens called tokens or tokeys in game. Minimum purchase of $10. You can buy fuel, weapons, and a special ship for these tokens. Tokens are restricted to the server you have them on. 5,000 tokens makes one account wide tourney, and you can cash them in on many servers and get 4,000 tokens back.

There are 3 times of games:

·Perma’s are permanent games with no set end date. Every month the top 100 monthly and overall receive 1 point for last place and 100 points for first place and everywhere in-between respectively. Once the server ‘dies’ it will close and the top 25 will receive tourney points and trophies.

·ReBangs, are games that last anywhere from 2 weeks to 52 weeks, at the end the top 100 receive points like a perma and top 10 get medals or trophies depending on the game time.

·Blitzkrieg, is a fast paced game of capture and hold, work as a team or die trying.

·Gameplay: 7/10 – A lot of Hackers and Admirals Club gives too much advantage

·Graphics: 4/10 – While it is improving it is still a top down 2D space game

·Sounds: 3/10 – Shotty Music, iffy sound effects…

·Overall: 4.6/10

Starport is not rated by the ESRB.

******Personal Opinion Area******

I have played SGE from about Oct 2006-June 2010, in that time I have seen a lot of good and bad things happen. Corps rise and fall, and players build friends and rivals. Toonces the admin seems driven by tokens, rumors have it you can bribe him to get someone banned, or get unbanned. The game has been generally fun if you know the right people. Myself and Nine-Breaker a former player came together and made a trailer located here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5d9EI2O_PM

NOTE: Bare with me this was my 1st post and I couldnt quite tell the story line like everyone on the Wikia who added their parts, like I did I added a little but to a big picture for the storyline.

Dead Rising 2 is a multi-platform game released for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and PC on or around 28 Sept 2010. The sequel to the one of the best open world action/horror games of all times, Dead Rising. On 1 Sept 2010, Dead Rising 2: Case 0 was released as Downloadable Content and gave a prequel to the sequel.

Much Like Dead Rising and Dead Rising 2: Case 0, it is an open world, with many secrets, and hidden items. Unlike the first DR, however you can create special weapons for bonus PP, as Frank West took pictures. It is a single player with online co-op up to 4 players online or system linked. DR2 is rated M for mature due to Blood and Gore, Use of Alcohol, Intense Violence, Language, and Sexual Themes.

oThere are three playmodes:

§Single Player – 72 Hours, Millions of Zombies, Get to Killing…

§Co-op – Explore the City with a friend!

§Terror is Reality – Terror is Reality XVII is a comical zombie killing gameshow, who will win the riches?

oReplayability is a defendant, if you love killing zombies, and running around Vegas, you will replay this every chance you get!

oGraphics: 9/10, sometimes a bit out-dated but overall very nice!

oSounds: 8/10, Vegas is Vegas if you have an earful of wax!

oGameplay: 7.5/10, Lots of zombie killing, lots of cases, lots of psychopaths, and 72 hours to do it! But sometimes dull and repeated…

oOverall Rating: 8.1, Not Bad Capcom!

**************PLOT SPOILERS BELOW!****************

“Five years after the events of the original Dead Rising, former motocross champion Chuck Greene takes part in Terror Is Reality, a controversial American Gladiators-like game show where contestants kill gathered zombies in various ways for money, sport and fame. The show's latest incarnation, "TIR XVII: Payback", is currently held in Fortune City, an amusement and entertainment resort somewhere in Nevada, and based off the casino strip in Las Vegas, which was destroyed in a zombie outbreak three years ago. Tyrone King, or better known as TK, hosts the show with his twin assistants, Amber and Crystal Bailey. Chuck participates in the show for the purpose of raising funds to buy Zombrex for his daughter, Katey, who was bitten by her zombified mother in the previous outbreak. After Chuck wins the prize money in the latest event, he retires to the backstage where he is trapped in an elevator after a mysterious explosion. Upon exiting the elevator, he finds that an outbreak has occurred in the city and many people are killed or changed into zombies. Finding Katey, Chuck takes his daughter to an emergency shelter where survivors have gathered.

Inside, Chuck is confronted by Sullivan, a Fortune City security guard and the only reserve man to make it into the shelter. Sullivan is reluctant to allow an infected person like Katey into the bunker, but Chuck convinces him to let them stay as long as he finds and gives her a daily supply of Zombrex until the military clean up and rescue arrives in three days. Chuck meets Stacey Forsythe, the leader of the Nevada branch of "Citizens for Undead Rights and Equality (CURE)". The CURE organization advocates zombie rights and demands that infected people be widely administered with Zombrex, which has been expensive. During a news broadcast by Channel 6 News, Chuck discovers he has been framed as the perpetrator to the zombie outbreak in the city. Seeking to clear his name, he enlists the help of Stacey as well as the Channel 6 news reporter, Rebecca Chang, who was the one who reported the incriminating evidence. Meeting up with Rebecca, Chuck is unable to get the reporter to reveal her source who gave the evidence. Rebecca brings him to the central security room to watch the surveillance footage, but discovers that the guards inside are shot dead and all the equipment and footage destroyed.

Chuck returns to the safehouse to find that Sullivan has watched the news on Chuck being the perpetrator of the outbreak and demanded that he and his daughter be kicked out from the bunker. Chuck explains that he intends to search for clues to clear his name, and he will surrender to the authorities if he fails to find any evidence once the three days are up. Sullivan makes a deal with him to let him stay so long he continues rounding up survivors to the shelter. Stacey has monitored suspicious activity in the underground tunnels. Chuck enters the tunnels to find TK and a group of hired mercenaries moving unknown equipment on the maintenance tram. Upon defeating the mercenaries, Chuck confronts TK and the TIR host admits to having set him up as the scapegoat. Before Chuck can question him further, TK manages to get away by unhooking his train car from Chuck's. Later, Stacey spots numerous mercenaries breaking into the casino vaults scattered around the city. She and Chuck deduce that TK is using the outbreak to perform a heist. Chuck manages to foil TK's plans by killing TK's mercenaries and destroying the power drills that were attempting to break into the vaults.

Rebecca decides to trust Chuck enough to bring him to meet her source of information inside a nightclub. When Chuck arrives, he realizes that the twin assistants Amber and Crystal are the source for the evidence incriminating him and have taken Rebecca hostage. After a fight in which one of the twins is killed and the other commits suicide, Chuck further confirms that TK is responsible for the outbreak and created phony evidence to have him take the fall. Realizing his plans have come to naught, TK seeks to make his escape on a helicopter with his remaining loot. After a short fight, Chuck manages to bring down the chopper while TK is knocked out. Bringing TK back to the safehouse, Chuck and the others learn from him that Chuck was deliberately set up by him under orders from a mysterious group. However, TK refuses to divulge any more information. Chuck has TK handcuffed in the infirmary, with Sullivan standing guard while he and the others figure out what is really going on.

The three days period has passed and the military troops enter the city to clean up and rescue survivors. However, the operation goes horribly wrong when the zombies mutate from a noxious green gas emanating from underground. Unable to react and defend themselves from a stronger and newer form of zombies, most of the soldiers are wiped out. Rebecca films the chaos but she ends up lost in the tunnels due to the thick gas covering the city. Heading into the underground tunnels, Chuck rescues Rebecca from the military commander of the operation, who has gone insane from the shock of losing his men and has taken her hostage. Back in the safehouse Sullivan assures them that another rescue operation will be attempted, but Chuck decides they must somehow get the attention of the outside world that there are still survivors here. Chuck and the others discover on the news that the city has been reported to have no more survivors and the rescue troops wiped out. According to the news, the government plans to fire bomb the entire city in a little less than a day. At this time, the safehouse is suddenly breached and zombies start to pour in. As survivors fight for their lives inside the bunker, Chuck gathers the necessary equipment to repair the shelter barricades. After the crisis is over, Chuck discovers that TK is missing and finds him bitten by a zombie while trying to escape in the confusion. Sullivan tells them he was knocked out by TK when he let his guard down. To make sure TK pays for his crimes, Chuck decides to administer Zombrex to him to keep from being zombified.

Trying to find the source of the gas, Chuck heads for the underground tunnels. He discovers that the normal and mutated zombies are all heading to a closed barricade on the side of the tunnels. Inside, Chuck finds a huge spinning device which attracts the zombies. Mercenaries operate the device and create an ear-splitting frequency that kill the zombies and harvest the queen wasps that emerge from their remains. Chuck defeats the mercenaries and shuts down the device and the gas. Venturing further inside, Chuck discovers a research lab with scientists monitoring the harvest of the queens. After killing the hostile researchers, he takes their laptop and transceiver which can be used to communicate with the outside world. Back in the safehouse, Chuck, Stacey and Rebecca discover on the laptop that Phenotrans, the manufacturer of the Zombrex drug, is the company responsible for the underground research facility and unearth a conspiracy using the outbreak to harvest queen wasps from the infected. As Rebecca uses the transceiver to contact her TV station about the shocking news, she is shot and killed by Sullivan, who reveals himself to be in league with Phenotrans. He is responsible for intentionally breaching the safehouse and freeing TK in the chaos. Sullivan takes the laptop and transceiver and prepares to kill Chuck and the others, but Stacey hits him with a Baseball Bat, causing him to drop his gun. Chuck takes the gun and fires at Sullivan, who avoids the attack and flees.

Under directions from Stacey, Chuck locates Sullivan on one of the casino rooftops and confronts him. He discovers Sullivan attempting a stabilized body extraction by transport plane. When Chuck demands to know why he and Phenotrans created this outbreak and caused the deaths of many people, Sullivan replies that as more infected people resulted from the outbreaks, they needed more queen wasps to synthesize for the Zombrex drug to keep up the growing demand for it. As there is no way to breed the queens using conventional means, Phenotrans caused the outbreak and used the gas to mutate zombies and harvest more queens from them. He says that Fortune City was considered a small price when compared to the rest of the US, and implies that the Las Vegas outbreak was also caused by them, angering Chuck. TK was hired to set Chuck up as the perpetrator for the outbreak, but Sullivan tells Chuck that TK's later activities were independent from their own, as he became greedy and sought to take advantage. Sullivan insists that they are the good guys as they are providing a service for their customers. After this, Chuck engages Sullivan in a fight where he emerges as the victor, but is temporarily stunned by attacks from the circling transport plane. Sullivan attempts to extract, but Chuck handcuffs his lower half of the harness onto the platform, causing Sullivan to be instantly killed as his body is severed in half when the plane grabs his harness' sky hook.

Picking up Sullivan's discarded transceiver, Chuck calls Rebecca's TV station and asks them if they want the scoop of a lifetime. He then tells them to bring rescue choppers over to the city. Arriving on the rooftop of the safehouse in a chopper, Chuck learns from some survivors that Katey and Stacey are missing from the shelter. Trying to look for them, Chuck refuses to board the chopper and searches the security room. The only thing he can find is Katey's backpack, and the game seemingly ends with Chuck silently holding his daughter's bag.

Overtime mode

Sitting alone inside the security room, Chuck picks up a transmission from TK, who has escaped his bonds and reveals that he has taken Katey and Stacey hostage. TK threatens to kill both of them unless Chuck collects a variety of insignificant items from a given scavenger list, all for his amusement. After finding the items, Chuck is directed by TK to head for the Fortune City Arena where Katey and Stacey are being held. Upon reaching the main entrance to the arena, Chuck is tasered and knocked out by TK.

Upon waking up, Chuck discovers he has been tied upside down above the arena on the games countdown timer platform while Katey and Stacey are both tied together and suspended above the zombies loitering below. Now clearly insane, TK taunts Chuck on the stage and challenges him to rescue his new family. Chuck manages to free himself and make his way up the platform and attempts to lift Katey and Stacey back up, but is attacked by TK who arrives to stop him. Engaging in a fight using unarmed combat and melee weapons scattered around the platform, Chuck defeats TK. However, TK grabs him and attempts to strangle him over the edge of the platform, but Chuck manages to hurl TK over the edge, leaving the former host of TIR falling to his death below. Chuck rescues Katey and Stacey and the three of them leave the arena. The game ends with a zombie screaming into the camera as it pans to the arena below.” – Dead Rising Wikia

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Alright, let me start off by saying this is the first review I have ever done, so bear with me. Halo: Reach is the the fourth and final Halo game to be released by Bungie, and it is a prequel to Halo Combat Evolved. This game tells the story of Noble Team, a group of six Spartans who must do whatever it takes to complete the missions at hand. There may be a few spoilers throughout the review, so read at your own risk. Now, lets get started with the review.

CampaignLet's start with the campaign since this is the part most people will play first, and the part I played first. I played it co-op with a friend on Heroic. You can play with up to 3 other people co-op. I'm not going to sit here and give a recap of the story although I may mention a few parts of it. In this game you play as Noble 6, the newest addition to Noble Team. It takes place, for the most part, on the planet Reach. Reach is one of mankind's few colonies left and is a the main military hub for the United Nations Space Command aka the UNSC. The campaign starts off very slowly. For quite a while in the first mission you are just wandering around going to certain way points. Eventually it does pick up and things get underway.

For the most part this is a typical Halo campaign. Fight to this point, activate this thing, go help these people, and all that business. There are a few parts that you haven't seen in a Halo game before, such as the space combat mission. I thought this mission was well made. It's definitely not some mission they just threw in there or the fun of it.

I enjoyed the campaign for the most part, however, I am going to tell you the parts I didn't like right now. Noble Team must make sacrifices to complete their mission. Sometimes, that even means sacrificing themselves for the good of Reach. This is the part I have a problem with. I believe Bungie should have done a bit of a better job developing the characters, allowing me to become more emotionally attached. In a good story, the player will feel some sort of emotion if one of the main characters dies. This was not the case for me, and this is coming from a guy who very nearly cried when Aeris died in Final Fantasy VII.

The ending of Halo: Reach is the best ending in a Halo game. After the credits you get to play as Noble 6 one last time. Your mission? Survive. You get to fight off a bunch of Covenant until you sustain a certain amount of damage. Noble 6 will then remove his helmet and you get to watch him make his final stand. This caps off the epic tale of sacrifice that is Halo: Reach.

MultiplayerBungie does a great job delivering a fun and varied experience in Halo: Reach. For the most part, the game sticks to the Halo method of multiplayer. Power weapons, grenades, melee, and all that fun business. There are changes to the multiplayer though. Most of the weapons have a new blossoming reticule that makes them a little more difficult to use. However, I think it adds a bit of balance to the weaponry. It looks to me like the weapons do a bit more damage. Players seem to die a bit faster. Another thing that has been changed for the better, in my opinion, is the melee. If you have any shield left whatsoever the melee takes it away. If you do not have a shield, the melee will kill you.

Bungie decided to add assassinations to the game. When you come up behind someone and hold the melee button your character will perform the assassination. The camera goes to third person and you get to watch this happen. It adds a bit of flair to the game but these can prove to be dangerous. You can be killed mid-assassination.

Another new addition to Halo: Reach is the loadout system. Players can choose a certain loadout depending on their play style. Depending on the gametype the loadouts may have different weapons or they may have all the same weapon with just different armor abilities. These loadouts add a whole other dimension to the game. They bring a new level of strategy to the game.

The amount of variety in this game will keep any player occupied for quite some time. There are many gametypes and maps that shipped with the game. If the past is anything to go off of there will be more to come. One of the things that Bungie does very well is support their multiplayer games. They do a great job of updating the playlists with different gametypes all the time. It would take quite some time for someone to get bored with this game.

The multiplayer experience in Halo: Reach is a fun and chaotic one, as expected. It comes down to this. If you like Halo, you will love the multiplayer in this game. If you do not like Halo, you will probably not enjoy this game all that much. It never hurts to give it a try though, the changes might be to your liking.

VisualsThis game is absolutely gorgeous. Bungie has done a great job with the visuals in Halo: Reach. One thing you notice throughout the game is the sheer size of things. They have done a wonderful job depicting size. Some things truly look massive. At one point in the campaign you get to see the Pillar of Autumn, a UNSC cruiser. If you just stop and look around at the ship, it is amazing how monstrous it looks. All the maps and levels look beautiful. The grass and water look very realistic. You can tell that Bungie puts a lot into the visuals of their games.

In Halo: Reach, a few things have been tweaked visually. The biggest thing that has been changed is the player movements. They all look a lot more fluid. From jumping to sprinting, nothing looks awkward as a few things did in Halo 3.

The cinematic cut scenes in Halo: Reach looked great. They looked exactly like you were playing the game, which isn't a bad thing because it makes it seem more like a part of the game as opposed to the cut scenes that look completely different.

Everything in this game looked good except for one thing. When I was playing the campaign, sometimes I noticed a strange motion blur. I'm not sure if this is always there or if it was just because I was playing co-op on Xbox LIVE.

The level of detail is increased in Halo: Reach. This is obvious in the players armor. You can see scratches and dents. It looks like the player has been through war, as it should. Also in regards to armor, Bungie has upgraded the customization level in Halo: Reach. You can customize everything from your helmet to what you have on your wrist. You can even change the voice of your player in firefight.

Bungie has outdone themselves again with the graphics in this game.

SoundI think that the quality of the sound in Halo: Reach is one of the things that impressed me most. All of the weapons sound amazing. They tweaked the sounds of some of the weapons and they actually sound better. The Assault Rifle sounds like it shoots bullets that may actually hurt people now. In Halo 3 it sounded as if it was shooting staples.

With a good surround sound system this game will really put you in the middle of the action with sound alone. A few times while playing I heard a marine yell something and thought someone was in my room talking to me. You can hear bullets whizzing right by your head. It is easy to pick up where enemies are just buy the sounds of them yelling and moving.

In terms of music Marty O'Donnell has done a wonderful job yet again. The music in this game helps to create a mood very well. It gives you a sense of the emotion that Noble Team is feeling throughout the missions. O'Donnell said he wanted a "grittier" feel for his music because of the nature of the game. He has done a great job in that respect.

OverallHalo: Reach is everything Halo fans have been looking for. The campaign is good from start to finish. The multiplayer is fun and will remain fun for quite some time. The game looks and sounds great. This is Bungie's "Swan Song" to the Halo series, and it is a very fitting one. Halo: Reach is the best Halo game Bungie has ever put out and is the perfect game to end on. Congratulations to Bungie on an amazing run with the Halo series!